Damaged eco-friendly election posters recalled

Around half of the party’s 100 local election candidates opted for eco-friendly election posters, but the wood used has turned out to be below the standard required and the posters have split and disintegrated during inclement weather over the weekend.

A party spokesman confirmed last night that it had ordered the recall of all that batch of posters as a precautionary measure. The recall affects some 50 candidates.

The spokesman said the party had contracted an Irish company to use a specific type of board that would withstand all elements of Irish weather and not break apart or cause litter. However, during the high winds and rains of the past week, it was found that some of the posters disintegrated when exposed to the elements.

The posters, purchased because they were ecologically friendly, were produced in Ireland from a renewable tree source, specifically for the Green Party’s election campaign at a cost of around €150,000.

Between 12,000 and 13,000 posters were printed for the election campaign, all of which have been recalled.

Mick Murphy, a Green candidate for Cork City Council, said the party immediately withdrew the posters late on Friday, shortly after the fault was identified.

It is understood that the company contracted to provide the posters specialises in creating a high-quality visual finish on timber board from a sustainable source.

The timber was sourced from the Irish State Forest and the Green Party had specified that for every tree used to make the election posters, six trees would be planted to replace those cut down, according to Mr Murphy.

“Once we were informed of the fault, we went immediately to remove any posters that had been erected.”

The party spokesman said last night that replacement posters had been ordered for the affected candidates and the party hoped that they would be available by the end of the week.